Congressman Gianforte Fields Questions in Telephone Town Hall

Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte held another telephone town hall meeting on Wednesday evening, taking questions from callers on a variety of subjects.

At the top of the list was the partial shutdown of the federal government. Gianforte said Democrat leaders must come to the table to end the shutdown.

“We have a crisis on the southern border,” said Gianforte. “Nancy Pelosi has already said she will give nothing for the wall. At one point she said she would give a dollar and then she backed off on that. This could be solved in 45 minutes if Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer would come to the table and negotiate.”

One of Gianforte’s first callers was a federal government employee who had been furloughed due to the shutdown.

“Donald Trump has said securing the southern border is vital,” he said. “He campaigned on it, He said it’s important and I believe it’s important because it affects the safety of our communities and it is where meth is coming from. If the President gave in on reopening the government, his leverage to get funding for the wall goes away, and that’s the rub. Unfortunately, that burden is being borne by federal employees.”

As of Thursday, January 17, the government shutdown is now in its 26th day.